This invention generally relates to outdoor grills or stoves for camping and more particularly outdoor cooking devices that are collapsible for ease of portability.
Travelers to remote areas, such as for example, cross country skiers, hunters, campers and canoers frequently use an open fire to bake, roast, and grill their food. Special ovens termed reflector ovens are especially useful for baking and roasting food where an open fire is the heat source.
Previous campfire stoves or ovens have suffered from various problems such as a lack of consideration of the amount of storage space required to accommodate them when it is packed for travel; insufficient strength of construction to support the weight of food to be cooked; and lack of sufficient space for placing for cooking. Additionally, when the cooking or heating device is in use it must be sturdy, stable, and durable. The temperature reached in the cooking or heating device sometimes may also be difficult to direct to a user if they want to use it for personal heating while outdoors, such as when cross country skiing.
Another challenge to most stoves or grills is that the user needs to buy and carry fuel along on the trip. Additionally, bringing fuel such as propane or lighter fluid could contribute environmental costs associated with using them while camping. There is an unmet need for a superior alternative to cooking devices that use portable chemical fuels instead of using materials for fuel that are normally found near a campsite. It would also be advantageous to have a heating device that provides adjustable heat output, packs into a small space, is lightweight, simple to assemble and disassemble, and works well in cold weather.